Fraser Garlic Farm

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Farmer

Ed

About

Our farm is noted primarily for different varieties of high quality certified organic garlic sold for both planting and eating. In the past several years, we have expanded to include potatoes, leafy vegetables, root crops, edible pumpkins and certified organic eggs from free-range chickens. Our farm is located 20 miles southwest of Downtown Rochester. We organically manage 22 tillable acres. Located in Churchville, NY. This land has been farmed since the mid 1800's and probably before. It was used for field crops such as corn, hay, other grains and grazing cattle. We bought it in 1993 and began raising garlic conventionally for the first two years and switched to sustainable management in 1995.

Practices

Fraser Garlic Farm is Certified Organic under NOFA-NY. We strive to develop and maintain as much of a natural environment on our farm as possible in order to increase the sustainability of our farming operation. Our goal is to provide safe, healthy, nutrient dense food to our customers and their families.We also feel that it is important to teach people about the food that they eat and how to grow their own. Providing good soil to grow strong plants is always our first defense against pests. We also rotate crops, isolate crops from pests by covering them with row covers, and develop farm-scaped areas. These are intentional plantings to create natural mini-environments which attract beneficial insects, birds, and other animals.

Soil Our clay loam soils were very depleted from decades of conventional farming practices when we first came here. Over the years we have been using cover crops, compost, and minimal tillage techniques to increase the natural biological activities of the soil and return it to a healthy state. Weed Control An understanding of weed biology is important in order to control them on an organic farm.We use a wide variety of weed suppressing techniques such as: cover cropping, propane flaming, stale seed bed preparation, mulching, mechanical cultivation and some hand weeding.